PARENTS-SCHOOL-STUDENTS-FORUM (P2SF) AS INTERVENTION
MODEL ON CHILD FRIENDLY EDUCATION
1
Senowarsito,2Listyaning S.,3Arso Setyaji,4Suwarno Widodo
1,2,3
Universitas PGRI Semarang seno_ikip@yahoo.com
Abstract
Child friendly school in practice requires partnership with parents and family by enabling and engaging participation of them to provide effective learning environments in promoting 3Ps (provision, protection, and participation) on child rights. So far, the communication between parents and school was limited on the administrative substances, neglecting the process and the content of education itself. This paper presents P2SF as an intervention model on child friendly education. It is based on the Research and Development (R&D) of an intervention model implemented at two models of child friendly school, SD Secang I and SMP Tempuran I, Magelang Regency. The P2SF accommodates a reciprocated communication among the primary agents of education in order to synergize the three parties in implementing child friendly education. This model is created in the form of handy-communication book to establish mechanisms for meaningful participation.
Key words: intervention model, agents of education, child friendly education, P2SF.
INTRODUCTION
Education cannot be done by schools or parents or children exclusively. It needs supports from those parties respectively. The intensive involvement of the three parties in the process of their children education ensures that the students’ needs and rights relating to the provision, protection, and participation will be accomplished. The involvement of parents and students in the process of education should be in the form of partnership to foster higher participation among others.
It is important to make good relationship among three parties (parents, school, and students) to strengthen the effective learning environment to promote 3Ps (provision, protection, and participation) on child rights. The role of the three parties in promoting the children to have better education is interrelated. Parents have a strategic and primary position to place their children as a basic concern and care to have an adequate standard of living, and to take responsibilities on their children's needs and
rights. Correspondingly, schools and
education systems provide the environments and resources necessary for achieving the quality of children’s life. School is the
second place for the children to get a safe community providing and addressing the child’s needs and rights as well. Schools should make it possible for all children to access experiences that they can survive in their future. They should also provide educational experiences for the students to promote, develop, and attain their potential competence. On the other hand, children or pupils, as the prospective agents for themselves, have their responsibilities for their own better life. For the sake of the effective attainment of children education, the three parties should work together and make a good relationship and partnership.
Initial research on child-friendly
education based on 3Ps (Provision,
Protection and Participation) conducted in two schools, SD Negeri Secang 1 and SMP Negeri Tempuran 1 in Magelang District, indicate that the lack of continuity, synergy, and consistency of child-friendly education is because of less involvement of parents or family in the process of their children
education. So far, the communication
parties only in the first year and the last semester in academic report. The boundaries of communication among the parties are
influenced of variability of parents’
education background, socio-economic
background, and profession background. Moreover, parents’ perspectives in their child education is still placed that education is exclusively a responsibility of school and there is a fundamental difference of understanding of the concept of child-friendly education between parents and school.
Model of parental involvement in education in schools so far is still in the form of socialization of school programs through regular meetings of school committees and the information book for the students and parents. The constraints faced in suburban and rural area is the variability of the
background of the parents and their
occupations are employees (labors) of small local industries (50%) and farmers (30%). They mostly think that education is exclusively the school’s responsibility. They sometimes have difficulties to access any information and school policies. Therefore it is essential to find out kind of intervention model that enables to build collaborative relationship between schools and parents in developing child friendly education. The intervention model should accommodate a reciprocated communication among the primary agents of education in order to synergize the three parties in implementing child friendly education.
As it is the follow-up of the 1st year of research and development ( R & D) , the objective of the study is focus on:
a. finding out the applicability of the intervention model.
b. establishing P2SF as an alternative model of intervention to promote democratic participation of three parties (Parents, School, and Students).
CHILD FRIENDLY EDUCATION
Child Friendly Education (CFE) is an education systems addressing all elements that influence the rights of the child as a learner. CFE should make it possible for all children to access school and provide them
educational experiences to improve, develop, and achieve their full potential capability. The schools and education systems provide the environments and resources necessary for achieving the quality of their education. Every child shall have the right to live, to grow and to develop, and shall have the right
to be protected from violence and
discrimination. Children are also entitled to all the other rights which are said to be the privilege of “every person”. Home and school should be as a safe place for children to live in. But in fact that there are wide
range form of both physical and
psychological violence for children, such as bullying, sexual abuse, discrimination, and any kinds of threats from parents, family, peers, seniors at school, and even teachers as educators.
The scope of CFE includes
multidimensional coverage and concern for the child’s needs comprehensively. The CFE is a means of conveying the concept of child rights into school and its community practice, which is definitely established as a framework that is made up of the following 3 Ps (Provision, Protection, and Participation): (1) Provision is related to the availability of children’s needs such as love, affection, food, health, education, recreation; and also
adequate environmentally sustainable
facilities, services and supplies that support their needs. (2) Protection is concerned with the safety of the family, school and its
community as places for learning
participation and creating space for children to express their views and opinions. (Senowarsito et al, 2013)
The success of CFE comes not only from the efficiency of setting the school apart in a special place as a community that pursues learning, but also from the effectiveness of linking the school to a family and community. Learning does not begin when children walk through the school doors nor does it end when they exit for the day. Children bring to school their family and community beliefs, practices, knowledge, expectations and behaviours. Similarly, when they return from school they bring back to their homes and communities new forms of knowledge, practices, behaviours, attitudes and skills. Children are engaged in a continuous, dynamic process of bridging the world of school and the world of home and community. They learn from both worlds, facilitated by teachers, family members, neighbors and others. Linking schools and communities is widely recognized as good pedagogic practice. (UNICEF, 2009)
A child-friendly education is a family friendly school. It builds relationships between parents and schools who have primary responsibility for the well-being of children at all stages of their development. A caring family can be the most stable, reliable and unconditionally supportive agent for learning, so the engagement of families in the promotion and strengthening of children’s learning can be among the most effective and lasting of interventions (EAPRO, 2005 in UNICEF, 2009). Parents who feel positive about school and are involved in its life are likely to be the best advocates for the school’s values, policies and practices at home, whether by encouraging homework, promoting anti-harassment or supporting cooperation with others. Where there is no contact between home and school, problems in the child’s life may go unrecognized by the school and will not be properly addressed. Even in underprivileged families, high levels of parental support and a positive school climate foster self-confidence and self-esteem. Therefore, it is important to involve families in their children’s education
and establish community school links. Families are children’s first teachers and have a critical role to play in preparing them for their future.
INTERVENTION MODEL
The school-family-based partnership in education is for the sake to ensure the fulfillment of childrens' rights at school and at home. It is deal with the belief that a two-way partnership between schools and families fosters higher enrolment and engagement in education for the best interest of the children. It does not decrease the role of the school committee, but it is designed to empower and strengthening the role of the
school committee in supporting and
controlling the school policies. An
intervention model proposed to build parents involvement in developing child friendly education is in the form of: 1) building partnership of three parties, by conducting regular meeting of three parties at the beginning of school session, at the end of semester, at the end of school session, parenting, and informal meeting, and 2) School-Student-Parents Forum (P2SF) book, as an alternative intervention model to bridge the communication among them. This model is the development of the existing model already implemented in two schools (SD Negeri Secang I and SMP Negeri 2
Tempuran), particularly focuses on the
contents and the approaches.
1. Building partnership of three parties (Parents, School, and Students).
School holds a regular school meeting with school committee, parents and students at the beginning of the new school year, the end of the semester, at the end of school session, parenting, and a visiting family program. The purpose of the meeting is to provide some information, guidance, and clarification on the implementation of child-friendly
education at school, to collect
implement child-friendly education at home in the same way as the school does. On this meeting, it can be used to build a commitment among the parties. It also can be arranged informal meetings for parents and invited them in numerous special activities during each semester.
The meeting can also be
designed for parenting program. This program can be implemented to build parents involvement with the school to provide direction and implement
child-friendly education in the family
environment. It is designed to treat
behavioral problems in child victims and to reduce the risk for subsequent child abuse and neglect, and to improve the capacity of parents to cease certain
harmful behaviors and behaviors
associated with healthy child
development. The target parents are placed as the primary change agents.
The schools can also make direct contact with families or visiting families whose children have special problems, such as student behaviour, child abuse or students at risk of dropping out, etc.
2. School-Student-Parents Forum (P2SF) Book
This School-Student-Parents
Forum (P2SF) book is designed as a communication book. This book was adopted from the communication model used in the two schools with some revisions and developing supplements relating to contents, approach and method of connectivity among parties (school, parents, and students), since he existing communication book used by the school consists of school norms and ethics (Buku Tata Tertib Sekolah), which was much more emphasized on the
obligation of the students and
punishments.
The P2SF consists of a) information of the rights and obligations of three parties (Parents, School, and Students), instead of exclusively the obligation of students at school; (b)
school etiquettes, including school
norms, rules, and manners that all school community should be acted upon; (c) rewards and consequences which are placed as primary of eliminating the violence of the children, replacing the punishments which are acknowledged by the children; d. Parent-School-Student Forum Column, that can be used as a forum for school (teachers), students, and parents to discuss any things relating to learning process, student activities, student manner or attitudes, and student
performances. Schools can provide
guidelines to the parents of the students and monitor the development of the child-friendly education at home.
RESEARCH METHOD
This study is a Research and Development (Borg and Gall, 1989: 784-5). This study was carried out during two years in six stages. The stages 1, 2, and 3 were carried out in the first year and stage 4, 5, and 6 in the second year. The first stage is the stage of research and preliminary research by conducting empirical and theoretical studies to get an initial picture of understanding of the parents about
child-friendly education, of child-friendly
education forms in the domain of the family, of the obstacles faced by parents in implementing child-friendly education, and of the characteristics of the parents and models of interaction between the school and parents, and of the possibility of
development child-friendly educational
intervention model based on the parents and the school connectivity.
Figure 1. Stages of the Development of Intervention Model on CFE
This paper is presenting the results of the second year study on stage 4– 6. In the stage 4, the prototype of intervention model was revised and validated by experts and discussed in Focus Group Discussion (FGD). In the stage 5, the model was tried out in two schools (SD Negeri Secang I and SMP Negeri I Tempuran) involving two principals, selected teachers, parents, and students. In the stage 6, intervention model was finalized, and introducing Parents, School, Students Forum as an alternative intervention model in the form of communication book.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The results of FGD on intervention model can be described as follows:
1. Based on the previous study conducted that reveals the fact that mostly school community and parents as well still consider that punishments, such as asking students to do irrelevance-assignments when they break a certain rules (coming late, not doing home assignments, and such) are still appropriately carried out in order to discipline the students. They are also believed that punishment is an alternative way to improve pupils’ bad attitude and low achievement since pupils are afraid
of getting punishment from teachers when they do bad behavior and not accomplish their tasks or home works. It is recommended to implement the interventions to address these situations include school and parents in non-violent discipline, as well as establishing and enforcing codes of conduct that protect children from sexual harassment, abuse, violence, bullying, physical punishment, and discrimination.
2. It is believed that homes and schools are safe places for children. The similarity in concept and perception on child-friendly education by schools, parents and the community is needed in preventing and addressing violence against children. Preliminary research on child-friendly
education based 3P (Provision,
Protection and Participation) conducted in model schools, indicating that the lack of continuity and consistency of child-friendly education at schools do not accompanied by the same education in families. It happens because there is still a gap of understanding of parents about the child rights and different perception on child-friendly education.
3. The consideration addresses to the frequency of the meeting among the parties at school. There will be some obstacles of inviting parents with different backgrounds in high frequency. The previous study revealed that the parents’ occupations were dominated by employees (labors) of small local industries (50%), and farmers (30%). The rests (20%) were in various professions, i.e. civil servants, police officers, soldiers, local entrepreneurs, and staffs of a company. It was recommended to find an alternative model of intervention and agreed to implement P2SF as an alternative model of intervention to overcome such problem.
Moreover, the results of the try-out of intervention model can be described as follows.
1. The head of two schools—SDN Secang 1
involving students’ parents in which the school is housed is crucial to fostering positive student outcomes. Along with the head masters, the involvement of teachers, school heads, and parents, and students revealed that the two model schools took great care to increase the level and type of involvement of parents in school decision making activities and events. Under the coordination of school committee and school heads, parents are encouraged to attend school committee meetings.
2. The two school heads noted that parents were invited to a regular school meeting. The purpose of the meeting is to collect information and suggestions for school activities and to discuss their children’s academic performance and behavior, but the attendance of parents at the meetings is inconsistent, not all parents could attend the arranged meeting due to their work obligations and activities. On the other hand, it is reported that some parents agreed and very welcome to come for school meetings and participate in numerous special activities at school. For those parents who are unable to visit the school, the two school heads use a suggestion box to ensure parents have some opportunity to voice their concerns, but not all parents, less than 20%, use this opportunity.
3. Parenting was not yet carried out at the
matter of time arrangements and
budgeting.
4. The two model schools has already made home visit for a special case. They belief that teachers visit students’ homes to better understand their living contexts, demands, and problems. The visit was carried out only for the students who had specific problems. The head masters, teachers, students, and parents agreed that home visits can be used to inform the school’s mission and goals with respect to student learning, and provide a unique opportunity for teachers, parents, and students to interact in an informal setting, but they met some obstacles relating to time arrangements and budgeting.
5. Parents and local community members has already formed a school management committee or parent-teacher association.
Parents who participated on these
committees or served as parent
representatives are satisfied with the level of responsibility since they have the opportunity to express their opinions on school activities, their children’s learning, and changes the school needed to make. 6. All parties (parents, schools, teachers, and
students) accepted and agreed P2SF as an alternative model of intervention to promote democratic participation of three
parties considering the general
understanding of parents on child-friendly education in the family domain, cultural and education background of the parents, and inconsistency on the attendance of parents at the formal meetings arranged. It was recommended that the book should be simplified in order to be easily read and understood by parents who have various education and social backgrounds. The form of the book should be more interesting and easy-handed. The school ethics, including school norms, rules, etiquettes and manners should be secured and suited to the vision and mission of the school.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
Preliminary research on
child-friendly education based on 3Ps (Provision, Protection and Participation) conducted in model schools, indicating that the lack of continuity and consistency of child-friendly education at schools are not accompanied by the same education in families. It so happens because there is still a gap of understanding of parents about the child rights and different perception on child-friendly education. Therefore, it needs intervention model that can build mutual partnership between school and family.
beginning of the new school year, the end of the semester, at the end of school session, parenting, and a visiting family program. 2) School-Student-Parents Forum (P2SF) Book containing: (a) the information of the rights and obligations of three parties (Parents, School, and Students); (b) school etiquettes, including school norms, rules, and manners that all school community should be acted upon; (c) rewards and consequences; d. Parent-School-Student Forum Column.
P2SF is the alternative intervention model to support the partnership of three parties in the form of regular meeting, parenting, and informal meeting to promote democratic participation of three parties (Parents, School, and Students). The school ethics, including school norms, rules, etiquettes and manners should be secured and suited to the vision and mission of the school.
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